Oregon Logging Companies are Racing the Clock Trying to Harvest Damaged Logs from the Archie Creek Fire

Logging throughout most of Oregon and especially in Douglas County is bustling as logging companies rush to harvest whatever damaged lumber they can from the 131,542-acre burn scar which was the Archie Creek Fire. Log decks at Douglas County sawmills have not been this full since the late 1980’s. More than 1 million acres of timberland burned in Oregon as a result of fires sparked last September. That accounts for essentially 3% of the state’s total privately owned harvestable timber. Matt Hill, executive director of Douglas Timber Operators, estimates that anywhere from 200 to 250 full loads of logs are hauled off the fire site on a daily basis. “We’ve been making fast decisions based on the deterioration of the asset,” Hill said. He went onto say that, “We’re moving a lot of wood that wasn’t ready to get moved very quickly.” “On average, a fully loaded log truck carries roughly 4,000 board feet of timber, said Toby Luther, president and CEO of Lone Rock Resources. “You multiply that by 200, 250 trucks a day … we’re really racing the clock,” Luther said. “We’re trying to get as much of that timber out before the bugs get to it. We’re going full-tilt right now.” Up to 1 million board feet of timber is coming out of the Archie Creek Fire scar every day. Thirty years ago, that was a financial boon. Today, many timber operations across the state are just hoping to break even.